London Taxis Plan 10,000-Car Protest Against Uber App Use

A queue of London taxis have their lights on showing they are available for a fare in London. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

May 9 (Bloomberg) -- London’s taxis are planning a 10,000-cab protest next month, as professional drivers across Europe
demonstrate growing opposition to Uber Technologies Inc.’s app.

The drivers will meet at a yet-to-be-named London landmark
in early June, said Steve McNamara, the Licensed Taxi Drivers’
Association’s general secretary. Uber’s drivers are allowed to
carry passengers without following the same rules as other
services, giving them an unfair advantage, he said.

The controversial app, which helps private drivers and
professionals charge for rides, has met with protests in several
markets from the taxi industry, whose drivers often pay steep
fees for licenses and permits and complain that San Francisco-based Uber’s cars are given an unfair advantage.

“All we’re saying is if you want to come to London and
operate the business model you’re operating, you should operate
within our laws,” McNamara said in an interview. “This is
about a good old British sense of fair play. It’s not cricket.”

Uber said it holds the necessary license for private hire
cars in London and adheres to all of Transport for London’s
regulations. A TfL spokesman said yesterday that while it’s
investigating Uber’s operating model, “we have seen no evidence
to suggest” that Uber isn’t fit to hold a license.

Starting Business

Uber markets itself as a way for drivers to start their own
businesses, showing profiles of top drivers on its website who
include a student who used the app to make money on weekends, a
single mother who started her own business and a man who quit
his job to drive passengers around San Francisco. That means it
can draw drivers from outside of the professional chauffeuring
industry who may hold different licenses or qualifications.
That’s a key difference from similar apps like Hailo, which
recruit taxi drivers.

Cars in Brussels that use the app will be subject to a
10,000-euro ($13,863) fine after a local court ruled against
Uber cars last month. European Commission Vice President Neelie
Kroes called the ban “crazy” and anti-competitive.

In Berlin, the taxi association said that Uber hurt
competition by violating rules that force limousine drivers to
return to a base after delivering customers. In April, a court
banned taxi services that use the app, though the injunction
wasn’t enforced at the time.

Paris Protest

French President Francois Hollande attempted to impose a
15-minute pickup delay on Uber and other private car services,
which was struck down in February by the constitutional court.
Parisian drivers blocked traffic from airports that month to
protest private car services like Uber, which aren’t required to
purchase a taxi permit that costs more than 200,000 euros.

“For me to persuade 10,000 guys to take a day off work
shows you the strength of feeling,” said McNamara, whose
organization represents almost half of London’s 24,000 cabbies
who drive the city’s black taxis. “They’re not a commercial
threat to us. It’s a sense of fair play.”

Specifically, McNamara said that private hire vehicles,
such as Uber’s cars, aren’t allowed to have meters because
they’re pre-booked and can quote a fare in advance. The rule is
meant to prevent companies from charging different amounts or
surprising a passenger with an unexpected charge, he said.
Uber’s app includes a meter-like function.

Uber drivers also don’t always have an operators’ license,
which means that they aren’t supposed to take customers’
bookings themselves, McNamara said.

“Uber is pro rider and pro driver -- we are all about
keeping London moving with our innovative app at great prices,”
an Uber spokeswoman said.

Insurance Issue

The company is also running into criticism at home. Such
apps are “encouraging non-professional drivers to use their
personal vehicles to drive passengers for a profit, a risk which
personal automobile insurance simply does not cover,”
Commissioner Dave Jones of the California Department of
Insurance said in a statement last month.

Uber said it already provides a $1 million commercial
policy during trips and $1 million of coverage for uninsured and
underinsured motorists.

The company was valued at $3.5 billion in a funding round
last year after raising cash from Google Inc.’s venture-capital
arm and private-equity firm TPG Capital.